Zach Lowe, who has been churning out a great deal of Celtics related work recently, wrote an article today about whether or not the Utah Jazz should keep or trade their lottery pick, projected as number 11 overall in this year’s upcoming draft. Similar to the Celtics, the Jazz have a young core of players that have made a great deal of progress throughout the year. However, Utah has so much youth that Lowe argues they should consider trading their first round pick for an established NBA player, preferably one that fits their defensive identity and can provide some floor spacing. He cites Avery Bradley as a great fit for what Utah would be looking for.
Avery Bradley
Again: Utah may look at wing players before point guards, since you need two of them on the court at once. Bradley is perfect. He’s about the same age as Favors and Hayward, he’s content working for off-ball jumpers at the shooting-guard spot while Hayward works the pick-and-roll, and he would give Utah a third vicious defender in the starting lineup.
He’s also locked up on a nice contract through 2017-18.
The Celtics turned down offers of a late first-round pick for Bradley at the deadline, but perhaps a pick about 10 spots higher than that would tempt Danny Ainge. What if Utah tossed in Hood?
It’s a long shot. Boston has too many first-round picks as it is, and Ainge adores Bradley. The Celtics are more likely to package some of their own late first-round picks to try to move up in the draft.
Lowe brings up a few points here that are interesting. First, he mentioned earlier in the week that the Celtics turned down offers of late first round picks for Bradley before the trade deadline. But, the difference between a pick in the mid-to-late 20s and a top 12 pick is significant. Would it be enough to at least make Ainge consider a deal?
Lowe thinks it’s doubtful, mostly because Boston already has a surplus of their own drafts picks. At this point, the Celtics, theoretically, are a team trying to package their own picks in a trade, rather than take on more in exchange for one of their more talented young players. Still, swapping Bradley for a top 12 pick could potentially give the Cs two lottery picks and the Clippers pick, which would look great for another team in a potential trade package for an impact player or to move up in the draft. The argument can be made that making the deal would put the Celtics in a better position to land a star. At this point, Avery Bradley is not going to be included in a trade package as a “building block” type of guy. But he is a very good role player that would fit well on a number of teams.
That being said, Avery Bradley fits very nicely on this Celtics team right now and in the future. As Lowe mentioned, he signed a very affordable contract this past offseason, maintained his status as an elite defender and has improved on the offensive end. Good 3 and D guys are more difficult to find than you might think, and Bradley excels in that role. It should also be mentioned that AB is viewed as one of the leaders on the team. He’s one of the few leftovers from the Pierce and KG era, and by all accounts is a hard worker that sets a great example for the younger players.
I like Bradley a lot. But if Ainge can poke around with some of the teams that could get a top 3 pick, trading Bradley to then subsequently move up in the draft or obtain a star player may be worth it in the end. Of course at this point any trade talk involving Bradley, who the Celtics are clearly reluctant to deal, is all speculation.
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